Velomancy

"It's the future, Ballard, and you're already part of it. For the first time, a benevolent psychopathology beckons towards us. For example, the car crash is a fertilizing rather than a destructive event - a liberation of sexual energy that mediates the sexuality of those who have died with an intensity impossible in any other form. To fully understand that, and to live that... that is my project." - Vaughn

velomancy works through a combination of forces: entropy, sex, technology and myth...all potent forces in the Occult Underground. but for the most part, joyriders aren't concerned with waging secret wars or finding the hidden meaning of the universe. they all have one desire: self-destruction through self-realization. followers of the cult believe that the only way to live is to die. they gain charges by pushing the envelope and risking their skins on their reflexes and skill while driving. velomancers tend to have powerful connections to their cars -- always buying the same make and model (or buying several cars of the same make and model at once) and learning every esoteric trick of the mechanic's trade. autophiles are walking encyclopedias of car crash lore (especially as this lore is helpful in regaining charges) and often own their own garages or race-tracks (if in a remote enough setting) where they have demolition derbys and car-crash re-enactments.

the close-knit group of car crash enthusiasts is fiercely protective of their privacy and the actual number of velomancers is unknown. they tend to attract followers who provide financing, real-estate or other such assistance for the group (few members of velomanctic circles are actually mages -- most are just hangers-on, fascinated by the spectacle of their magick or from being a crash survivor).

note that although automobiles are used throughout this article, any fast-moving vehicle (motorcycles, airplanes, speedboats) can be used in velomancy.

velomancy blast style: velomancers attack the human body (or specific parts) with a kind of sympathetic magick, unleashing their own memories of horrific injuries onto others. hood ornament-shaped contusions, lacerations from broken glass and steam burns spontaneously and violently manifest on their victim's body, as if they had been in a car wreck. the only condition is that the velomancer needs to have experienced the injury in question in order to use it on someone else (assume it's not a problem with minor blasts...every velomancer has gotten whiplash before. velomancers often photograph fatal car wrecks, documenting them for later use in significant blasts). whatever the injury, most velomantic blasts are unsubtle to say the least...

generate a minor charge: as in entropomancy, velomancers gain minor charges from taking risks. the difference is that velomancers must do so in a very specific way, namely taking risks while driving: not wearing a seatbelt, driving recklessly or speeding all enable the velomancer to gain a minor charge.

generate a significant charge: re-create a famous car crash or drive a famous crashed car (kennedy's lincoln, james dean's "little bastard"). maintain a serious injury in a car crash (though this must be accidental...slamming your mazda into a brick wall just to gain a charge won't cut it). generate a major charge: be physically involved in a famous, fatal car crash (the chaffeur driving the car the princess diana died in, the college student that struck james dean's car). many velomancers believe that to die in a spectacularly fatal crash is a one-way ticket to the invisible clergy as the archetype of the flame that burns twice as bright and half as long...

taboo: velomancers exist in a paradoxical world, a world where they control their own destiny when behind the wheel and they must relinquish that control for magickal power. not being in control will cause the velomancer to lose all charges, be if from being a passenger (air-travel sucks for velomancers -- unless they're the ones flying the plane) or by failing a helplessness stress check.

random magick domain: velomancers, like entropomancers, are masters of coincidence. the difference is that they can only use magick dealing with vehicles.

starting charges: newly-created velomancers have four minor charges.

Velomancy minor formula spells

red light, green light, 1-2-3

Cost: 1 minor charge
Effect: this spell enables the velomancer to change the color of traffic lights from red to green or vice versa. all other lights will also change (thus at an four-way intersection, if the east-west light is changed to green, the north-south light will change to red).

whiplash

Cost: 1 minor charge
Effect: this is the velomancer minor blast spell as described above. damage from whiplash is relatively minor and internalized -- nothing more noticable than a bloody lip or brusied collarbone (close inspection reveals the imprint of a steering wheel on the victim's shoulder or similar signs of an auto accident). the velomancer may add one die of damage for every ten miles over the speed limit he's driving. if the subject is driving when the spell is cast, he will crash unless he makes a successful speed check.

hotwire

Cost: 1 minor charge
Effect: the velomancer can start any car without an engine key.

engine trouble

Cost: 2 minor charge
Effect: when this spell is cast on a moving vehicle, it will stall and the engine will cut out. if cast on a stopped vehicle that isn't running, it will permanently cease to run.

auto-eroticism

Cost: 3 minor charges
Effect: by tapping into the psycho-sexual mystique of cars, the velomancer can use his car's power to attract others to him. the velomancer casts the spell by taking the intended target of the spell of a ride (the passenger must be willing). when the spell has been cast, the target will begin to feel sexually aroused whenever near the driver or his car. she will begin to fixate on details: scratches in the paint, scars on the body of the velomancer; eventually she will fetishize these details until they reach a sexual significance. although superficially it appears to be a form of mind control (like the pornomancy spell number nine), it doesn't compel the subject to act on these feelings -- only to experience them.

Velomancy significant formula spells

trauma

Cost: 1 significant charge
Effect: the velomancy significant blast manifests as traumatic and visible damage -- broken bones, burns, lacerations, you name it. similarly to the minor blast effect, for every ten miles above the speed limit the velomancer can add an additional die of damage and the driver must roll against crashing (if he even survives the blast).

radio-activity

Cost: 1 significant charge
Effect: to cast this spell, the autophile thinks of a question and tunes the car radio to any station. whatever song, news report or commerical that is playing will somehow answer the question (although it may be presented in a cryptic form). even disc jockey banter will provide useful information ("...and the correct answer to last week's trvia question is...")

joyrider

Cost: 2 significant charges
Effect: the velomancer can instill a subconscious urge in the victim's mind to hurt themselves the next time they drive a car. if the victim is a responsible, safe driver who wears a seatbelt and doesn't speed, he can make a driving check to realize that he's about to do something dangerous. otherwise, the victim will speed, change lanes without signaling and generally drive extremely dangerously until he reaches his destination.

license to kill

Cost: 3 significant charges
Effect: when cast on a vehicle, that vehicle and its occupants will cease to be visible (or audible) to other drivers, pedestrians, etc. if cast on another car, the driver won't be aware that no one can see him until another car changes lanes and collides with him (or something similar). if cast on the autophile's own car, he can run stop signs, commit hit and run killings or even escape from police officers who are chasing him. this spell lasts until the vehicle's engine is turned off or until the velomancer wishes it to stop working.

body work

Cost: 5 significant charges
Effect: the velomancer can will any vehicle he owns to change form (even while being driven). thus an '91 red ford escort could change to a '57 chevy in candy-apple red (with all changes in mass, performance and gas consumption that go with the transformation). the caster can change any or every feature of the car, even going so far as to instantly restore a wrecked auto lying in a junkyard (although instantly is a bit strong...the transformation is visible and takes everything from seconds (for minor changes or repairs, all the way to a few minutes for major changes). besides the condition of ownership, this spell may only be used on automobiles (the thought of turning a cessna to an f-14 fighter is a bit much, even for magick).

Velomancy major effects